Avian Allies
by OutlawedAngel
Summary: When two people that are enemies and are both in line for their thrones, what happens when they see each other on the battlefield? Both with dead siblings...


_**This is Zane's Point Of View and rated 'T' for the violence in which Xavier and Gregory died in. This is sort of like a different Chapter One of Hawksong so people don't kill me.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hawksong or the Characters.**_

_**Avian Allies**_

As I walked the battlefield where my youngest brother – Gregory Cobrianna – fell, I noticed a new sound, something that sounded avian. I couldn't quite place it but my guards warned me not to get too close. As soon as I let my eyes seek the sound, I wished I hadn't.

In front of me was a hawk. Danica Shardae, heir to the avian throne. Understanding now why my guards had not wanted me to approach. In avian society – or so I'd heard – no one let their guards down – emotional or physical. Legend called it 'Avian Reserve'.

The hawk or other avian that broke that 'law' was considered a disgrace to the dead and a shame among the living. This sort of thing was unheard of in the Serpiente Court. There, everyone had the right to express whatever it was they were feeling.

Kneeling next to a still form, Danica Shardae would have made a formidable foe, had she not been weeping her heart out.

I motioned for my guard to stand down, watching as they all did except Adelina. Setting my brother's body on the dirt, the guard waited for my next instructions

I approached the avian princess carefully and stealthily. If the heir to the avian throne knew I was there and approaching her, she gave no obvious sign. Adelina moves as if to follow me but I stopped her by lifting one finger in warning.

When I reached the avian beauty – for she really was beautiful – I fell to my knees opposite her. Sweeping my eyes over the still body in front of us, my breath caught in my throat, "He looks like he's sleeping." I forced the words out.

Danica did not look up nor move but her words were laced and dripping with a danger that made my guards tense, "If you have only come to gloat about your victory over my kind, then you are wasting your breath and over working your tongue!"

Adelina took four shuffled steps forward and said menacingly, "How dare you speak to the Diente like that? He has done nothing to your kind that you have not done to ours!"

The captain stepped back in to her ranks as I motioned for her to shut up before both women did something that they would later regret. Danica said nothing to Adeline to which I was immensely grateful. My head captain could be difficult to maintain if she wanted to be.

The avian princess before me did not seem to be a threat, but I knew better. Even so... As my eyes once again took in the stilled body I realised something.

The boy was an exact image of the girl beside him, "His name," Danica said quietly, "Is Xavier Shardae. He was my younger and only brother."

A deep pain struck within my heart as I looked over my shoulder at my own last remaining but now dead brother. I felt Danica's gaze move to where my own was lingering.

She sighed in annoyance at the state of my guard and the body they carried between them, "Come, the lot of you. You need to be clean and properly fed."

My guard and I must have visibly hesitated because Princess Shardae sighed like she was talking to a young child, "I am not taking you to your deaths, of that I can assure you. No, there is a small building quite near here that I sometimes use as a relief station for anyone who may still have a chance of life after a battle."

At my nod, my guard bent down to pick up Gregory's body and we trailed the retreating figure of Danica Shardae. We stopped a few metres behind her as she stood silently.

Suddenly she snapped her fingers and the Royal Guard Flight flew in their second forms (of mostly crows and ravens, I noticed) from the tree tops.

Beside me, Adelina hissed and swore in displeasure, "A trap! I knew it!" I hushed her as Danica conversed with her guard leader and the two were bickering slightly.

I winced involuntarily, as the word 'scum' slipped through the leader's lips. She silenced him with a sharp gaze.

Nodding in defeat, the captain took to the air and flew towards the way we had come. Danica sighed and motioned for us to continue.

Not long after we reached a small building, just as Danica had predicted. It was a quaint little shack sort of place but it had more than enough food, water and medical supplies that were needed to help my guard.

The hawk gestured for to the bed that was set up and my guard set down my youngest brother's body. Seating us down around the table, Shardae made us a stew with chunks of meat and she served us silently.

I noticed that when she served herself, she tried to avoid adding the meat, "Why do you not eat the meat?" I asked gently, "My Great-Grandmother forbade meat to be served in the keep, so I guess I never acquired a taste for it."

Shardae shrugged.

Adelina groaned and hissed in annoyance. I sighed in defeat.

It was going to be a long night.


End file.
